David Bue Pedersen, the young researcher heading DTU Mechanical Engineering’s research in the area, has received EUR 2.4 million (DKK 17.8 million) for a five-year project.

The ambitious goal for the project is to fully optimise the processes underlying the 3D printing technologies in terms of geometric precision and mechanical applications. This applies to both 3D printing in metal and plastic—or additive manufacturing as the discipline is also called.

“We’re proud to support research into additive manufacturing technologies at DTU. Getting access to expertise and knowledge about how 3D printing to a greater extent can be used in production will without a doubt benefit Danish industry in future,” says Kim Nøhr Skibsted, Executive Director of the Poul Due Jensen Foundation.

The goal of the project is to describe both the physical and digital system behind the two most commonly used methods for industrial 3D printing in metal and plastic, respectively. This will take place via a modularization of both processes. Next, an open architecture for metal printing and photopolymer printing, respectively, will be prepared.

"We’re proud to support research into additive manufacturing technologies at DTU. "

The documentation behind the architecture, i.e. hardware, electronics and source code, will be made publicly available so it can be used by other researchers and businesses to drive further development in the field.

Processes underlying 3D printing
These years, research into 3D printing is increasing rapidly, but the research focuses mainly on design, characteristics of materials and quality assurance.

By contrast, only few research groups like the one at DTU are currently working to improve the processes underlying the 3D printing technology.

“One of the reasons for this is that it requires competences within many different fields, such as construction, physics, chemical technology and process technology, to develop new processes that must be both better, faster and more cost-effective than the existing ones,” says David Bue Pedersen.

These competences are all present in DTU’s research group and will in the coming years be used to put pressure on the current state-of-the-art within the 3D printing field, and open access descriptions will be prepared of all processes underlying additive manufacturing.